Three years ago, President
Obama created the Atrocities Prevention Board to help fulfill his important
recognition that the prevention of mass atrocities is a “core national security
interest and core moral responsibility.” With ethnic conflict
boiling in Burma , South Sudan and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo , among other places,
such a mechanism has never been more important. Although the board’s operations
have been classified, there have been some visible successes. But much remains
to be done.

The board is run out of the
National Security Council and is composed of senior policymakers from across
the government who meet to discuss conflicts with the potential to generate
mass atrocities. It is a major step forward that senior officials are regularly
discussing atrocity prevention and that these discussions are now informed by
a national intelligence estimate on the risk that
atrocities could occur. This new approach has enabled better coordination and
more rapid responses across government agencies.

In one vivid illustration, the
Obama administration reacted swiftly in late 2013 to help stem sectarian and
political violence in a fast-deteriorating situation in the Central African Republic, providing millions of dollars
for aid and peacekeeping operations as well as a national radio broadcast from
Obama urging peace. This critical intervention helped turn the country back
from the precipice of disaster. In addition, the board has been credited with
producing a rapid U.S.
response last summer after the Islamic State drove tens of thousands of Iraqi Yazidis from
their homes. And it has spurred the creation of a major prevention program in Burundi in the
run-up to its presidential election in June.

In a recent speech at the Council on Foreign Relations,
Undersecretary of State Sarah Sewall explained the complexity of atrocity
prevention and how it requires using a broad array of “diplomatic, political,
financial, intelligence and law enforcement capabilities to prevent these
crimes before they evolve into large-scale civilian atrocities.”

Although there has been strong
criticism of the administration’s failures in Syria, including by me, the board is focused on lower-profile
prevention and not such highly visible problems where the U.S. government
is already heavily engaged. In the case of the Central African Republic, for
example, senior officials credited the rapid mobilization of resources and
support on their familiarity with the country after months of being briefed on
the potential threat of escalation.

Still, while important progress
has been made, further action must be taken.

First, Obama should issue an
executive order to govern the board’s operations, explain how it goes about its
work and assign specific responsibilities to various agencies. This is not a
partisan issue, and future presidents should have every reason to retain the
board. This order was expected years ago, and the delay in making this
structure permanent undermines the president’s goals and creates uncertainty
about the board’s future.

Second, Obama and Congress
should work together to create an Atrocities Prevention Fund, with an
appropriation of at least $50 million in the first year. Prevention can be
a hard sell, as success is often measured in things that don’t happen. But the
government’s ability to respond rapidly to evolving situations is highly
limited by resource constraints. The creation of such a fund, with appropriate
congressional oversight of how the money is spent, would help institutionalize
atrocity prevention activities in the government and focus attention on
designing the right responses. While the United
States is only one country and it relies on support from
many partners in this work, ongoing U.S. leadership is indispensable,
and these funds can be used to leverage support from other donors.

Finally, the board must provide
greater transparency in its operations and elevate the visibility of its work.
While certain aspects of its operations need to remain classified, there is no
reason a declassified version of the board’s annual report to the president
could not be released. Greater engagement with Congress, civil society and the
public at large will also help the board build a stronger and broader base of
support to sustain its critical work in the years to come.

Today, the international
community has both the experience to predict and the capacity to prevent mass
atrocities before they spin out of control. Obama has recognized the centrality
of atrocity prevention to our values and our national security. Now, in his
remaining time as president, he should take action to ensure that the
Atrocities Prevention Board becomes one of his most enduring legacies.